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Miami Hurricanes Recruiting Radar: Who Committed, Who Might, and What's Next

In a new monthly installment on State Of The U, we take a look back on recent recruiting developments, evaluate how they impact the team, and look ahead to what may be coming down the pipe.

By Cameron J. Underwood
Could Vincent Jackson be the next Miami commit?
Could Vincent Jackson be the next Miami commit?
Bud Elliot - SB Nation Recruiting

Here on SOTU, we take our recruiting pretty seriously. Being one of the Big 3 in the most fertile recruiting ground in the country, how could we not? As such, we (Cameron Underwood, Joe Garcia, and Lt. Philip Nolan) will be bringing you a monthly update, the Recruiting Radar, to let you know who committed, who might commit, and what the word on the streets is regarding possible new targets. We will also keep you in the loop with any developments dealing with Miami targets and other schools, if applicable. Hope you enjoy!

Who We Got

  • Palm Beach Central Tackle Kc McDermott committed on April 2nd. This commitment gave Miami our 3rd offensive lineman recruit, joining Miami Central's Trevor Darling and St. Thomas Aquinas' Nick LInder. Also, the impact of pulling a top player (at his position, in the State, and Nationally) showed that Al Golden and company may be seeing the overall trend of their recruiting efforts starting to pay dividends.
  • St. Petersburg Catholic Tackle Reilly Gibbons committed on April 8th. Like Darling, Linder, and McDermott before him, Gibbons added another top flight player to the Offensive Line class for 2014. This commitment, 6 days after Kc McDermott's, kept the positive recruiting momentum going, and shows that Miami may be building one of the best classes in the Nation.
What We Don't Like

  • The NCAA saga continues. While this isn't directly linked to recruiting, the specter of the NCAA investigation and potentially looming sanctions still remains. This will remain as a negative until this issue is resolved. Even though the majority of the press regarding the investigation has been bad press for the NCAA, and makes things look favorable for Miami, it's still a situation that opposing coaches can use against us.
  • A top Miami target, Miami Central Running Back Dalvin Cook de-commited from Clemson and chose.....Florida. Al Golden is on record saying that Miami is planning to take 3 RBs in this class. With Joseph Yearby already committed, many thought that his teammate Cook might want to join him in Coral Gables. After a visit to the Swamp last weekend, Cook decided that Gainesville is the place for him. There is plenty of chatter that this commitment will stick, removing one of the top targets on the board, and leaving the staff to move on to other options.
Word On The Street

There's a TON of info out there regarding upcoming commitments and possible targets, so bear with us on this one.

  • For starters, even with the 4 offensive linemen that Miami already has, it is widely believe that the coaches plan on taking at least one more. This could be for a few reasons. The main one everyone will assume is that they fear they will lose one of the kids they already have. That is probably not the case, since Linder, McDermott, and Gibbons have all made it fairly clear that they are done with recruiting. Darling is the only wildcard, but there's no reason to think he's shopping at all. The more likely reason is that you can never have enough depth on the offensive line, and the Canes are losing a ton after this year. The name they are still after is Tampa (Fla.) Catholic High School OG Corey Martinez. Martinez claims around 20 major offers, including Miami, FSU, Alabama, and LSU. According to what we've been told, Martinez may narrow his list down soon, and Miami and FSU are said to be the leaders. The kid grew up an FSU fan, but has academics (cliche as that may be, it's true here) at the top of his list. He is drawn by the prospect of attending a private college rather than a state school, which is a plus for Miami. This will be a hard battle, but it's one the Miami coaches won't let up on.
  • Plantation DB Chris Lammons holds a Miami offer, and will likely cut his list soon. There's no real good guess as to who the leader might be at this point, but Miami will certainly be in his top 5. He may attend the spring game this weekend, which will be a plus. There's a lot of things that he likes about Miami, whether it be the coaches, players, or closeness to home. They're in a good spot with him, and will be until the end.
  • While wide receiver was a luxury position with the 2013 class, it's a bit more of a focus in 2014. The Miami focus is hardest on Homestead stand out Ermon Lane, but they are not at all alone. He is considered one of the top receivers in the country, and boasts 30 scholarship offers. He says that he talks to coaches from Miami every couple of weeks, and will definitely be at Miami's spring game this weekend. He will be a down to the wire battle, but it's going to be a long wait, as he plans to announce on signing day.
Who's Next

As far as recruits who may be pulling the trigger soon, this time around we've got a couple of them.

  • One that is sure to make a lot of Canes fans happy is 3 star LB/DE Michael Smith from Miami Northwestern. He is a lifelong Hurricanes fan, and Miami is his dream school (I know, I know, we've heard this all before...but wait!). He's been wanting a Canes offer for a while now, and finally got one recently. We've been told that he is extremely close to committing, and that he just wants to make sure that Miami will suit him academically before making things official. When asked about the chances that he's a Cane in the end, he said 90%. This one is basically a waiting game until it happens, and once it's done, it should be more or less locked up. There are other rumors out there that he is nowhere near a decision, and while that may be the case, there's a lot more smoke on our side than anything else, so we remain optimistic.
  • Tampa Jesuit LB Vincent Jackson has been on the Miami radar for a long time now, and things look like they may be picking up with him. His twitter account has been extremely Miami-centric lately, and it's all been good. He still plans on visiting schools like Auburn and Alabama, among others, but it is hard not to look at recent comments and expect Miami to be his favorite.
  • Plantation American Heritage RB Sony Michel has been a known commodity in the recruiting world since he burst on the scene as an 8th grader on the Varsity team. Miami offered him then (the fall of 2009), and has been in hot pursuit ever since. Michel, one of the top players in the country, lists offers from nearly every major BCS school in the country, and figures to be the gem of this recruiting cycle for whichever school lands his commitment. After taking visits to Miami, Florida State, Florida, and Notre Dame, Michel is set to announce his choice on April 26th at 4:30pm on ESPNU. The general consensus is this is a 2 team race between Georgia and Miami, with Notre Dame being the dark horse.